In April of this year . . . I and 2 of my team members participated in the NINJASelling installation at Greater Nashville REALTORS. This was 4 VERY full, motivational days of intense learning. For years, I’ve been aware of the NINJA selling program, and I haven’t signed up because I’ve been practicing and coaching my own “way” of running a highly productive real estate career as a business while enjoying a high quality of life. I’ve named my program “Life Rhythm“. It’s an amalgamation of bits and pieces I’ve gathered in my first 15 years of building and operating my own personal way of doing business. In 1994, I saw Stephen Covey speak and was blown away by his “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” . . . Then I participated in Joe Stumpf’s “By Referral Only” coaching program . . . added... 07/25/2019

Here we are in the sandbox in preschool. We’re learning from each other how to negotiate. I’m shoveling some sand, and accidentally toss a load on my friend Sally’s head. Of course, Sally is initially surprised . . . Time freezes . . . She’s processing what just happened, and there are so many things running through her mind. She is not injured, but she is covered with sand. She wonders if I did that on purpose. Earlier this morning, Sally had awakened up on the wrong side of the bed. She was cranky, so she took this opportunity to blow off some steam. While I was laughing it off as being funny unintentional accident, Sally was deciding that I was the Devil and that I had, ON PURPOSE, thrown a bucket of sand over her head. Sally put her hands over her eyes and commenced a shrill wailing... 07/23/2019

How long has it been since you had a Maintenance week? Do you know what that is? We know that we must properly maintain our automobiles, home air conditioning systems, our teeth, and pretty much everything we own. If we fail to maintain our “tools” that make our lives easier, they will ultimately become less reliable. We must take whatever time necessary to “sharpen our saws” such that they perform well when needed. With respect to our “jobs”, how attuned are we to maintaining our own self/human assets? How long can you function at a high level when you’re in a veritable pressure cooker of new ideas, deadlines, projects, and lists of lists of things to do? Seriously! We can schedule every minute of every day with meetings and “WORK” . . . and still not get it all done. Next thing ya kno... 07/22/2019

Thor didn’t want to take his medicine this morning! All of the other dogs LOVE the Bravecto Chews they all get every 3 months, but not Thor! Bravecto is an awesome Tick and Flea medicine that makes the dogs toxic to those pests . . . A necessity if you’re gonne be a cannine in #OwenHollow because without, the dog becomes mass transaportation from outdoors to indoors for these critters. I haven’t tasted the chew – Looks like chocolate. This morning, I diced it and mixed it with bacon fat microwaved for 15 seconds to liquify it, and . . . Thor STILL didn’t want to eat it. I think Thor is smarter than all the other dogs – He knows that strange chew is MEDICINE, so he doesn’t want it. I don’t think he doesn’t like the taste . . . He’s being obstinate – Just doesn’t want to take his medicine... 07/19/2019

We learn by asking: “Why?” We learned this as children beginning as soon as we had the capacity to communicate. For the first several years of our lives, we questioned darn near everything. As we “matured”, our curiosity waned, and our questioning of: “Why?” started happening less. Why? Was it that we were getting “full”, and there wasn’t room in our brains for more information? Maybe it’s true that we humans only use 10% our brains, so we run out of space up there at an early age. Here’s an article that busts that myth – Do People Only Use 10 Percent of Their Brains? To some degree, I believe we have been taught not to be so curious . . . that it’s, in some way, inappropriate to question Why. “Formal Education” is one culprit . . . in addition to some parents silencing children when th... 07/18/2019

Consistent and persistent contact pays huge dividends IF the messages are relevant and deliver value. My ActiveRain Blog page Lifetime Stats: 2564 Blog Posts – 3,311,821 Views – 450 Followers WOW! That’s a LOT of “content”, and it didn’t get there over night. I add a post (almost) every working day. BarrysDriveTime.com has 350 short (6-16 minute) videos – Yep! I add one every day as I do my morning commute. My primary Blogsite BarryOwensBlog.com, is where I write almost everything I publish . . . and I republish most of that content on Facebook and Linkedin . . . Over time, this daily rhythm accumulates to be a veritable mountain of information. Truthfully, a percentage of what I post ain’t pretty or insightful or useful, but that’s OK because no-one is required to read it and/or like w... 07/17/2019

The invitation popped into my in-box, and the topic piqued my curiosity. I checked my calendar and confirmed that the day and time was doable, and I registered to attend. At that moment of my choosing to register, the topic resonated with me. As the event neared, I received a reminder email and was starting to have some reservations. Who else will be there? I’ve never heard of this presenter . . . Will attending this be worth the time and inconvenience invested? I’m feeling less resonant with the topic . . . It’s been a tumuluous couple of weeks, and I can think of a few hundred other things I could be doing instead of this. Right on the edge of deciding not to attend, that evil little pixie who dwells in my conscience began whispering in my ear. She said things like: YOU committed to b... 07/16/2019

Your parents set clearly defined boundaries, and you immediately began “testing” those boundaries. At first, your parents might not have noticed your sly rule breaking, and when they did notice, their reaction potentially set a precedent that would stay with you for your entire life. If they laughed and said it was was cute, “but don’t do that again!” . . . Perhaps they put you in time out – or spanked you – or took away privileges. “You’ve just lost your ice cream treat this afternoon!” Whatever the consequences, you likely tested again. Was the result the same . . . or different? Next, you might test Daddy’s tolerance for this rule infraction? Was his response consistent with Mom’s? Way back then, you were learning how to break the rules. It’s been said that “rules are made to be brok... 07/15/2019

I’ve been conducting an experiment. “The logic of the experimental method is that it is a controlled environment which enables the scientist to measure precisely the effects of independent variables on dependent variables, thus establishing cause and effect relationships. This in turn enables them to make predictions about how the dependent variable will act in the future.” Source It’s been argued that Amazon.com is so successful because of its amazing CONVENIENCE! No matter what you’re seeking it’s likely buyable from Amazon.com. My experience is that many prices are lower on Amazon than they would be in a retail store. For a small fee (@$120/yr), any member can become a “Prime Member” which pays for itself very quickly in terms of FAST and FREE shipping and delivery along with lots of... 07/12/2019

Is there an end to your rope? What’s your tolerance? I’d venture to say that we ALL have an end to our rope. Sadly, some people choose to continually length their rope rather than reaching the end. When your rope has no end . . . there are no boundaries. Ah yes! If you’re feeling defeated and downtrodden and feeling taken advantage of, you probably are. The difficult truth is that you got yourself into this mess, and you’re going to have to get yourself out of it. “THEY” didn’t do this to you! YOU did this to you! This was not a conscious decision you made one day . . . It happened over time. You allowed people and circumstances to stretch the boundaries (lengthen your rope) . . . and as long as you allowed this, the more territory they would usurp. Next thing ya know, you’re feeling ov... 07/11/2019

The internet MONSTERS killed SOI for us little fish! Yep! Google pretty much feeds only the content that makes them money. Using keywords and tags are not likely to earn first page returns on any generic term imaginable.. Is “Free” internet traffic a thing of the past for REALTORS (and most other business other than Zillow and Google)? I’m launching an experiment. 3 years ago, I bought a fancy Commissions Inc website for Pareto Realty which I have grossly underutilized. This website has 2 sides . . . a “Branded Site” and a “Lead Generation Site”, and they are both connected to a powerful CRM program for cultivating prospects to convert them from lead to prospect to client. Thus far, we have only focused on leads generated by “Pay-per-click” advertising on Google and Facebook. The result... 07/10/2019

Doesn’t it feel great to be served well? I think I’m accurate saying that all people appreciate when they feel “cared for”! In truth, we crave this. We thrive on human to human interaction. Seth Godin offers a great example in his blog post this morning. The $50,000 an hour gate agent I had an awesome experience having breakfast at First Watch (Green Hills) yesterday. The Server was personable and definitely cared. The food had obviously been prepared with care. I noticed other servers caring for each other. Clearly, serving the diners was a team effort. Counters are barriers that often create “bunkers” for the Servers/Sales Representatives. How can we perpetuate fewer bunkers and more care in our work? Let’s all resolve to hide less and engage more. We hide in so many ways – Text messa... 07/09/2019

Creativity and Spirit don’t know time. Just because it’s “scheduled” doesn’t mean it’ll magically manifest exactly at the appointed time. This is a hard pill swallow in this high tech “gimme NOW” environment in which we are swimming. Whenever it starts will be the right time. If you’re impatient and decided to rush things . . . or badger the source, odds are decent your yield will less than satisfying. I know! We’re ALL busy people, and we hate to wait (hurts my engine to go so slow) . . . So find something useful to do to occupy the time between now and when Creativity and Spirit choose to show up. Have faith that they WILL show up. Last week, I had to learn this lesson AGAIN! My calendar has a standing 2 hour appointment every working day with my computer to write (Blog, Website conte... 07/08/2019

I host MANY events large and small. Some might consider me to be a “serial inviter”. An idea pops into my head, or I notice an emerging issue or opportunity, or I see potential in gathering together a specific group of people, or I get the feeling that: If these people who don’t yet know each other personally were to meet in a safe space to explore a topic of common interest, some great things might happen. So . . . I name the topic and issue open invitations to anyone and everyone whom I think might have enough passion for this idea to show up at a prescribed day/time in an appropriate location. I then wait for it . . . Will they come? If they do RSVP, how many of them will actually show up? Oh! There are so many things about which I could worry in this period between invitation and co... 07/03/2019

Engaging with real people is the ticket to homing more families For years, I have been coaching the “Vital Few” agents of Pareto Realty to build a niche business with 80% of “marketing” by leveraging relationships. Every day is about connecting with real people OFFLINE!These are your “SOI – Sphere of Influence” contacts . . . The people you know, like, and trust who know, like, and trust YOU. A healthy business thrives when there’s a steady flow of new relationships.When we have a mindset of building relationships instead of “selling houses”, we tend to be more successful with “homing” more people who become lifelong friends and advocates.Most of us REALTORS work too hard doing the wrong things . . . We make things more complicated than necessary when what we know really fuels success i... 07/02/2019

You might want what you need . . . or need what you want. Sometimes, what you need isn’t what you want. Similarly, what you want isn’t what you need. How do we reconcile this? Today, I was cleaning up my Google Drive, and I stumbled across this quote that I needed to hear today. Interestingly, I wasn’t cleaning the drive because I wanted to find this . . . I was actually looking for something else that I thought I needed now. I was wrong . . . Turns out I really had no clue what I needed now . . . and I received it anyway. Here it is: “If you’ve been wishing for love, you may suddenly find yourself in the company of a smart new friend. If you’ve been hoping for (and working toward) major progress at work, a new love could pop up from out of nowhere. If you want to grapple with a big fam... 07/02/2019

Happy Birthday America! July 4 – Independence Day is on a Thursday this year. Many families will be on vacation for the whole week. This is the first “in season” week for most of the vacation destinations North of the Mason-Dixon line. All schools and Universities are on Summer Break. Here in Tennessee, the weather is HOT and STEAMY, so people are seeking cooler climes or migrating to lake, river, or ocean retreats from the grind. Others are taking a “Long weekend” opting to leave Wednesday and return to work on Monday. For those of us not travelling this week, we are enjoying the relative peace. The absence of all of the vacationers provides a much welcomed decrease in over-all activity. It’s not that we don’t like y’all being around . . . It’s just that we can get SO much more done wh... 07/01/2019

If you’ve ever been to a Disney Theme Park, . . .you might know that that every employee is a “Cast Member” with a very specific role. Everything is choreographed to the nth degree. This is just one of the many characteristics that helps create the “magic” that all guests experience. (If you’re interested in knowing 20 more magic makers, Click HERE!). There’s no tolerance whatsoever to any deviation from even the smallest detail. Cast members don’t get to have a bad day. When they step into the “show”, their identity becomes that of their character. This level of consistency is a proven winner. The most successful organizations and the star performers “get” this at a very high level, and they are unflappable/indefatigable in their resolve to stick with what they know works. What can we ... 06/29/2019

Early this week, I got a text from my daughter asking if I was free for lunch. I seldom (if ever) decline an invitation to dine with Allison because – well – She’s my daughter and I love hanging out with her, so I moved a meeting and we met at Panera (her favorite place) at 12:45. We both pulled into the parking lot at exactly the same time and walked in together. The lunch rush was waning and virtually every table in the place was “soiled”, Trash cans were over-flowing, and there were many dishes that needed to find their way to the dish washer. Having managed many restaurants in one of my former careers, I was not alarmed. Dining rooms get trashed during the rush as most employees are focused on the most important things – Taking orders and preparing consistently good meals for a larg... 06/28/2019

“Perfectionism is a form of self abuse.” The above is a quote from the NINJA Selling weekly email. As often happens . . . synchronicity . . . This message is timely and relevant. The theme for this week seems to be all about ways people in the their own way of seeking success. The NINJA message went on to mention the importance of focus on improvement over time . . . not perfection . . . because . . . odds are not in your favor that you will achieve perfection, so that expectation will indubitably result in “Failure” – That is – abandonment of the mission due to frustration with yourself. The trap is one of FEAR! This is deep seeded fear of “shipping” a flawed product resulting in embarrassment in the event your “critics” identify a flaw and pass judgement on you. The older I get, the m... 06/27/2019